Car-door fastener.



P. W. GHAPFEE. GAB DOOR FASTBNER. APPLICATION FILED OUT. 22, 1912.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Application filed October 22, 1912. Serial No. 727,237.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. CHAFFEE,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Albany, in the countyof Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Car-Door Fasteners, of which the following is aspecification.

The invention pertains more particularly to fastenings for the doors offreight cars, and it is applicable to cars having a single sliding doorand also to cars having two sliding doors and ordinarily calledautomobile cars.

I present my invention herein as applied to the doors of an automobilecarrying railway car, without however intending to con fine theinvention in all its parts to any special character of freight car.

The object of the invention is to produce a very durable and highlyefiicient means for locking the hasp commonly employed on freight carsin securing the doors thereof, and in carrying out my invention Iprovide a suitable casing containing a vertically slidable bolt andcarrying a staple over which the hasp may be placed andwhich staplecontains a vertical opening to receive the said bolt, said casing beingof the speciafi construction hereinafter described claimed. The casingreferred to will be secured to the door-stop when employed in connectionwith a car having a single sliding door and W111 be secured to the edgeof one of the two doors when employed on auto mobile cars, and in thelatter case said cas ing will not only be bolted to the door but'additionally secured and the door strength ened by a suitable barsecured thereto'and extendlng over and engaging the base por-' tion ofthe casing about the staple-thereon. The means for properly holding thehasp, which is employed in connection with my new locking devices, maybe of any suitable construction, but .I recommend for this purpose theconstruction presented herein and described in Letters Patent of theUnited States No. 1,017,136, granted to me February 13, 1912.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed descriptionhereinafter presented, reference being hadtothe accompanying drawings,in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, on a reduced scale, of a portion of anautomobile freight car having doors equipped with the fasten.

ing devices of my invention, the doors being shown in their closedpos1t1on; Fig. 2 is a detached face view 011 a larger scale, of the doorfastening devices embodying my invention; Fig. 3 is a horizontallongitudinal section through the same and a portion of the car doorstaken on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical transversesection through a portion of the same on the dotted line 44 of Fig. 3,and Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section through a portion of thesame on the dotted line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, 10 designates a portion of the side of a freight car,and 11, 12 denote two corresponding sliding doors mounted thereon, saidcar and said doors being of any suitable or of the well known generalconstruction. I apply to one of the doors, say the door 11, the featuresconstituting my invention, and to the door 12 I apply the meansdisclosed in my aforesaid Letters Patent dated February 18, 1912 forsecuring the hasp 13 thereto, said means, generally speaking, comprisinga bar 14 secured to the door, a pin 15 extending through an eye in theshank end of the hasp and a plate 16 secured to the bar 14 and engagingthe outer bent end of the pin 15 and therewith serving to confine thehasp 13 and permit the same to have the usual movements required inapplying it to or removing it from the staple.

The special features constituting my invention comprise a casing 17secured to the door 11, a vertically slidable bolt 18 carried therebyand a bar 19 secured to the door 11 and engaging said casing 17, saidcasing 17 being preferably in one integral casting and comprising a baseplate 20, a staple 21 projecting laterally therefrom and an outwardlyprojecting shell 22 having a closed outer face portion 23, a bottom 24which is closed except for the presence therein of a vertical guidingaperture 25 for the bolt, a closed upper end, and plate sides 26 whichare formed near the outer face portion of the shell with guiding andconfining slots 27 which commence suitably above the bottom 24 andextend upwardly and then inwardly and are open at their upper innerends, except as the material of the car door closes the same when thedevices are applied thereto. \Vithin the outline defined by the top,bottom and sides of the shell 22 the base plate of the casing is openand said opening base plate 20 which is entirely open at its 'back,except when 011 the car.

The bolt 18 is adapted to have a vertical movement within the shell 22of the casing '17 and is formed at its upper end with a' transversemember or bar 28, whose end portions extend within the slots 27 and areprovided with knobs or handles 29 to be manually grasped when the bolt18 is to be moved upwardly. The knobs or handles 29 are exposedoutwardly beyond the sides 26 of the shell 22, as shown in Fig. 2, andat the back of the shell 22 the upper inner ends of the slots 27 areopen so as to permit of the introduction of the bolt 18 through the backof said shell, the base plate 20 being recessed in line with the upperend of the slots 27, as at 30. The upper ends of the slots 27 turnrearwardly 011 an elbow curve and thereby permit of the convenientintroduction of the bolt through the back of the shell 23 and thepassage of the transverse bar 28 into the vertical portions of the slots27, and in addition this formation of the upper ends of the slots 27creates on the upper ends of the sides 26 of the shell 22 shoulders uponwhich the bar 28 may be rested when the bolt 18 is in its upper positionand from which said bar may readily be arred so as to permit the bolt todescend in the event that the bolt should be left in its upper positionand the car started in motion, the motion of the car being suiiicient tocause the bar 28 to leave said shoulders.

The staple 21 is in the form of a flat horizontal plate projectingoutwardly from the base plate 20, and said staple is formed with avertical hole 32 to receive the lower portion of the bolt 18 when thelatter is in its lower position. The bolt 18 is formed with transverseopenings 33 adapted to come one below and the other above the staple 21to receive the wire or sheet metal of the seal 34, whereby the bolt islocked in its lower position and confines the hasp 13 upon the staple21. I regard it as of particular importance that the openings 33 in thebolt 18 are so disposed as to come above and below the staple 21, sincethereby without weakening the staple I am enabled to securely seal thebolt by a rod of wire or strip of metal engaging the bolt only. Aspecial advantage of the upper and lower openings 33 in the bolt 18 overthe use of a single opening in the lower end of the bolt, resides in thefact that when the sealing wire is placed through both said openings andsealed the .bolt cannot be opened without breaking the attention to thefact that the car has been entered.

The casing 17 will be secured to the door by means of bolts 35 and alsoby means of the bar 19, which near the inner edge of the door isrecessed to receive the cross-section of the base plate 20, as shown inFig. 3, and is also apertured to pass over the staple 21, and inaddition the inner end of said bar 19 is formed with the right angularinwardly extending flange 36 to engage the inner edge of the door 11 andform an abutting surface to cooperate with a similar flange 37 on theinner end of the bar 14 secured to the door 12. I indicate at thereference numeral 38 the offset portion of the bar 19 affording a recessto snugly receive or fit transversely upon the base-plate 20. The bar 19strengthens the door and aids in securing the casing 17 securely inplace. The bars 19, 14 add greatly to the life of the doors in that theyresist the wrenching action to which the doors are subjected tending toseparate their parts during the travel of the cars.

In assembling the parts of the fastener for application to the car door,the bolt 18 is i inserted through the back of the base plate 20 and thecross-bar or head 28 atthe upper end of the bolt is entered into theguiding and confining slots 27 and thereupon the casing carrying thestaple 21 will be bolted to i the door and then further secured by theapplication of the bar 19. i

The method of employing the fastening devices will be understood withoutdetailed explanation. The staple 21 is in position to receive the hasp13 and when it is desired to apply the hasp upon said staple theattendant will take hold of the knobs 19 and raise the bolt 18sufficiently to allow the hasp to pass over the staple and thereupon .j

the bolt will be dropped so that its lower portion may pass through thestaple and confine the hasp thereon. The seal 34 will then be appliedand this will conclude the locking of the door.

The casing 17 is of particular importance in the details of itsconstruction in that its shell 22 projects outwardly from the base plateand affords the guiding slots 27 in its sides for the cross-bar 28 onthe bolt 18, said sides also aliording shoulders at their upper endsfrom which the cross-bar may be readily arred by the motion of the carshould the bolt be inadvertently left in its upper position and on saidshoulders. The open back of the casing is also of importance in that thebolt may be readily inserted through the same into the shell 22 and thatwhenever required the casing may be removed from the car door and abroken bolt be readily withdrawn and a new bolt substituted for it. Theexposed knobs 29 on the ends of the cross-bar 28 of the bolt serve asconvenient means for the manual handling of the bolt and also, beinggreater in diameter than the width of the slots 27, act to aid inguiding the bolt and in preventing sidewise tilting of the bolt at itsupper end. The outer portions of the shell 22 being closed, the interiorchamber of said shell is protected as far as may be possible from theentrance of dust, snow and the like.

The devices constituting my invention are durable and may be readily andsecurely applied to the door and conveniently manipulated in locking andunlocking the door.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a car-door fastening, a hasp and cooperating means thereforcomprising a casing having a base-plate, a staple to receive the freeend of the hasp and a shell ofi'set from said base-plate, and avertically slidable bolt mounted in said shell and adapted when in itslower position to extend through said staple and confine the haspthereon, combined with a bar (19) secured to the dOOr having an offsetrecessed portion transversely crossing and receiving said baseplate andapertured to pass over said staple.

2. In a car-door fastening, a hasp and cooperating means thereforcomprising a staple to receive the free end of the hasp, a verticallyslidable bolt adapted when in operative position to extend through saidstaple and confine the hasp thereon, and supporting means for said bolt,said bolt having openings extending transversely through it to comeabove and below said staple for a sealing strip, combined with a sealingstrip extending continuously through both of said openings exteriorly tosaid staple and having a seal connecting its ends.

3. In a car-door fastening, a hasp and cooperating means thereforcomprising a casing having a base-plate, a staple to receive the freeend of the hasp and a shell ofiset from said base-plate, and avertically slidable bolt mounted in said shell and adapted when in itslower position to extend through said staple and confine the haspthereon, said shell having an open back, sides formed therein withvertical guide slots open at their upper ends only through the back ofthe casing, and a bottom having an opening for the passage of said bolt,and said bolt having at its upper end a transverse bar extending intosaid slots and exposed at its ends to serve as a handle for the manualoperation of the bolt.

4. In a car-door fastening, a hasp and cooperating means thereforcomprising a casing having a base-plate, a staple to receive the freeend of the hasp and a shell offset from said base-plate, and avertically slidable bolt mounted in said shell and adapted when in itslower position to extend through said staple and confine the haspthereon, said shell having a closed front, an open back, sides formedwith guide slots parallel with and opposite to each other and closed attheir lower ends and open at their upper ends through the back of thecasing and said sides affording urved shoulders at their upper endsalong said slots and a bottom having an opening for the passage of saidbolt, and said bolt having at its upper end a transverse bar extendinginto said slots and provided on its ends with exposed knobs which aregreater in transverse width than said slots.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York,this 21st day of October A. D. 1912.

FRANK W. GHAFFEE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0.

